Friday, March 4, 2011

Choose whom you would serve

A lot of us, myself included, would, given our choice, prefer a mode of living wherein we would live and let live with those who we disagree with on non-existential issues. Unfortunately, this is not in the American character. We've always had a strong streak of the crusader in us, the only thing that changes is the target.Unlike other nations, even other nations in the Anglosphere, we required a war with a truly obscene amount of casualties relative to the population size to renegotiate our relationship with slavery. In later generations, we've recapitulated that approach with alcohol and then drugs, even going so far as to 'declare war' on them. Such is in our nature. The notion that something can be legal, but highly looked down upon and discouraged by the organs of the culture is far from us, and it's time we realize that. The space between forbidden and mandatory is thin indeed.Inside a fairly short space of time, homosexual behavior will either be legal and highly punishable, or meaningful criticism of it will be effectively punishable. Those who speak of 'legal, safe, and rare' are either smoking something or attempting to get us to smoke it. In most of these issues it is not possible in the long view to live and let live. Will you be hammer or anvil?